Egress Window Installation in Urbandale, IA

Urbandale is the metro’s great mid-century ranch belt with a new-build fringe - and Des Moines Egress Windows sees both halves weekly: block-foundation ranches from the 1950s–70s east of 86th Street whose basements were finished decades ago behind tiny hopper windows, and the poured-wall subdivisions filling in the city’s west end, where the builder’s single egress opening is waiting for company. Both routes end at the same code numbers; they just start from different walls.

Permits here are the city’s own: Urbandale’s Community Development Department issues residential building permits and reviews them under the 2018 International Residential Code with local amendments - currently the earliest code edition among the metro’s major cities. That’s a paperwork difference, not a standards loophole: the R310 escape-opening requirements we build to are the same in the 2018 book as in Des Moines’ 2024 one, and the local code always governs. We file with Urbandale directly and fold its review time into the schedule.

The east side: ranches, block walls, and 1970s “bedrooms”

The Urbandale grid that grew up around Douglas Avenue and the older numbered streets is classic post-war construction: single-story ranches over full block-wall basements. Two generations of owners have finished those basements - often long before anyone was checking - which is why this is one of the metro’s densest concentrations of almost-bedrooms: paneled rooms with a closet, a bed, and a 30-by-14-inch hopper up at the joists that misses every R310 number at once.

The fix is enlargement: the old unit (or glass block) comes out, the saw drops the sill to within 44 inches of the floor, the opening gets a new header and pressure-treated buck, and a compliant casement or slider goes in with a code-sized well outside. On block walls this is the friendlier version of the trade - courses come out cleanly, and jobs often land toward the $3,500–$5,000 end of the full-install range. One era-specific note: many of these homes predate footing drain tile, so the well gets a deep gravel dry well for drainage - skipping that step is how enlarged openings in old ranches become spring leaks. Details on the well installation page.

If a sale is what surfaced the problem - an inspector striking the basement bedroom from the count - the code compliance upgrade is the deadline-shaped version of this exact work.

The west side: new plats, second openings

West of the older grid, Urbandale’s newer subdivisions look like the rest of the metro’s growth ring: poured 8- and 9-foot walls, sump and tile systems, one builder-installed egress window, and unfinished square footage that families here reliably turn into bedrooms. Every new sleeping room needs its own opening - 5.7 square feet net clear, 24-inch and 20-inch minimums - and a second cut made in the same mobilization as the first prices well below two separate projects.

New-build owners here should also watch the quiet failure mode of young subdivisions: backfill that keeps settling for a decade, tilting the grade back toward the house until the builder’s window well sits in a shallow bowl. We correct grade and backfill compaction on every well we touch, and a cover and drainage check is cheap insurance on any well older than a few years.

Radon, finishing, and why the timing matters

Polk and Dallas counties - Urbandale spans the line - sit in EPA radon Zone 1 like all of Iowa, and mitigation systems are standard equipment in finished basements here. If your finish plan includes mitigation, sequence the egress cuts first: they’re the messy, structural step, and doing saw work after drywall costs more and reads worse. A mitigated, egress-compliant basement is also the credible foundation for the basement-suite plans that are more common each year - for aging parents, boomerang kids, or rental income, a legal sleeping room downstairs starts with the opening in the wall.

Getting an Urbandale quote

Send the form with a photo of the wall or well. You’ll get a free on-site measure - foundation type, footing depth, joists, utilities, access - and a flat quote off the same published pricing we use metro-wide, with the Urbandale permit itemized at cost. Excavation season runs roughly April through November against the 42-inch frost line, and winter is the right time to measure, quote, and permit for a spring slot; window swaps in existing openings run all year. We also cover Johnston and West Des Moines next door, Ankeny, and all of Des Moines proper; the cutting and installs are done by independent local contractors, so check their registration before work starts.